Can't Escape What's Written in the Stars
by jellybean96
Summary: The Crisis never got moved up five years. Which allowed the Smoak-Queen family to fall into a routine of normalcy and peace. Until fate rears its ugly head.


**Hey babes! Got a story up for you all, as a little treat to say Happy New Year. I was thinking the other day about what could have happened had the Crisis not been moved up five years, and had actually happened in 2024 like it was supposed to. So here's my little piece of what our favorite family's life could have been like.**

**Enjoy!**

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The sound of tapping on the hardwood floor pulls both of them out of the deep slumber they'd been reveling in. Though, neither of them has really been able to sleep too deeply since Mia was born. And Oliver hasn't been a deep sleeper for quite a bit longer than that. But he relishes every second of sleep that he gets.

Rolling over in bed, Oliver snakes his arm around his wife's waist, pulling her closer and snuggling his face into the crook of her neck. He presses a gentle kiss to her warm skin. "G'morning," he whispers, his voice still deep and gravelly from sleep.

Felicity wiggles back against him and he lets out a quiet groan. She spins herself in his arm and smiles cheekily up at him, despite how tired she is. "Hi," she says quietly, one hand coming up to rest on his face, her thumb rubbing gently against his stubble.

"Hi. How long do you think we have until she comes in?" Oliver asks quietly, keeping his ears peeled for the sound of the tapping getting closer.

"Hard to say," Felicity replies. She moves a little closer to him, draping her arm around his neck, playing with the little hairs at the base. "Things have been different the last few months, so maybe she'll give us a little break this morning."

Oliver's face breaks into a smile. "I love the optimism, hun. But this is Mia we're talking about."

Felicity sighs. "Yeah, I know. I can hope, though."

"Yes, you can." He leans forward to slide his lips over hers, using his arm around her waist to pull her closer.

As if sensing their intimacy, the door bursts open and a small blonde mass launches herself at their bed. "Mommy! Daddy!"

Oliver and Felicity pull apart instantaneously, turning their heads just in time to avoid being hit by the flying girl. Mia lands directly in between them, her feet ending up right near their faces.

With a playful smile on his lips, Oliver reaches out and grabs hold of one of Mia's feet. "Oh, this is my favorite. Little girl feet." He brings the foot to his mouth and pretends to bite the heel, making grumbling noises as he does.

Mia lets out a loud belly laugh and kicks out, which Oliver expertly dodges, and wiggles to get out of his grasp. "Daddy, no! It's me!"

Oliver lets out an exaggerated gasp as he looks up. "What? There's a whole little girl attached to this foot?"

Mia scrambles across the bed and plants herself on his chest. She grabs his face in her hands, squishing his cheeks together. "Daddy, it's me! It's Mia! Can you see me, daddy?"

"Yes, Mia, I can see you."

"Good." She lets go of his face and sits back. "I'm hungry."

Oliver chuckles. "Of course you are."

A few seconds later, the baby monitor on the nightstand next to their bed lights up, soft whimpering coming through the speaker.

Felicity lets out a heavy sigh with a small smile. "It never ends." She leans forward to give Oliver a quick kiss on the lips, followed by kissing Mia's cheek, and then climbs out of the bed.

"Where's mommy going?" Mia asks as she flops onto her side, lying next to Oliver on the mattress.

Oliver turns so he's on his side, facing his daughter. "She went to go get Lucas so she can feed him because he's hungry."

"I'm hungry too, daddy. 'Member I tolds you?"

Oliver nods. "Right. Should we go get breakfast started, then?"

Mia grins and nods her head. "Yeah! I wanna help!"

"Hmm...you are a pretty good helper in the kitchen."

Mia stands up on the bed and jumps, her dirty-blonde hair bouncing as she does. "I wanna help. I wanna help. I wanna help."

Oliver laughs quietly. "Only if you stop jumping on the bed. You know how mommy feels about that."

Mia stops jumping and lets out a huff of air. "Fine."

"Thank you." He groans as he pulls himself up into a sitting position and then throws the covers off as he swings his legs around the edge of the bed. He looks behind him at his daughter. "You coming, Mia-bug?"

Mia grins and then attaches herself to his back, her arms wrapping around his neck and her legs wrapping around his chest. "I'm ready, daddy."

"Okay. Going up." He carefully stands from the bed, smiling when Mia lets out a quiet giggle at the way he sways playfully, and then makes his way out of his and Felicity's bedroom. They pass by William's room on the way and Oliver stops momentarily to knock on the closed door. "Time to get up, buddy."

"Will! Come help us make breakfast!" Mia shouts, leaning toward the door while maintaining a good hold on her dad's back.

They continue their way into the kitchen and Oliver deposits Mia so she's sitting on the island counter while he figures out what to make. He listens to Mia rant about whatever it is that's on her mind as he goes about pulling out all the various dishes and ingredients they'll need to make breakfast.

"Daddy. Are you listening to me?"

"Of course I am, Mia. Finish what you were saying."

Mia huffs. "I was saying—Will!" The five-year-old jumps up onto her feet when she sees her older brother shuffling into the kitchen, still half-asleep.

"Hey, Mia." He stops at the counter and allows his sister to climb onto his back. He gives his dad a pointed look. "Why'd you have to wake me up? It's Saturday."

"I know. But we've got plans today, remember?"

William sighs. "Right. Couldn't you have just let me sleep a little bit longer, though?"

"Not a chance. How are those applications going, by the way? The deadline's pretty soon, right?"

William nods. "Yeah. I'm struggling a little with the essay part."

"Well, I've never been the best at essay writing, but maybe tomorrow we can take a look at it and see if there's something there."

William smiles. "Thanks, dad."

"Anytime, buddy."

"Hey, Mia," Will says, glancing up at his sister. "Any chance you're going to get off my back soon?"

Mia shakes her head and then rests it on her arm that's wrapped around his neck. "No."

He sighs. "Alright. Well, enjoy it while you can because next year I'm going away to college so you won't get to do this anymore."

"No. You hafta stay here, Will." She gently shakes him as she leans forward more to look him in the eyes. "You hafta stay here with me and mommy and daddy and Luke."

"I can't, Mia. I need to go to school so I can learn things about computers and be as smart as mom."

"Mommy's super smart."

"Thank you, Mia," Felicity says with a small smile as she enters the kitchen, bouncing baby Lucas gently in her arms as she pats at his back. "You're pretty smart too."

"But not as smart as you, mommy," Mia insists. "Nobody's as smart as mommy."

"That is very true," Oliver agrees, stepping over to his wife to give her a slow kiss. He smiles when he pulls away. "She is quite...remarkable."

Felicity smiles at the memory of one of their earliest interactions, hardly believing that they've actually gotten to this point in their lives. She gives her husband a quick peck. "Thank you for remarking on it."

"Can you two stop being so nauseatingly cute?" William speaks up, him and Mia both staring at their parents. "We're about to eat and we don't need our breakfast coming back up."

Felicity rolls her eyes at the remark. "Alright, alright. Mia, get off your brother and go wash up. Will, you too."

"I'm not on anyone's back."

"Don't be smart with me, go wash up."

William holds his hands up, a tiny hint of a smile on his face. "Okay, okay, sorry. Come on, Mia, we better go wash up before mom uses her loud voice." He hikes his sister up a little higher on his back and proceeds to bounce her up and down on his way down the hall.

Mia's repeated exclamation of "No loud voice!" echoes down the hallway after them.

"Remind me again why we decided to have another one?" Felicity speaks up as she moves into the living room to place Lucas down on his back on his blanket, a few toys scattered next to him. She grabs a few to wave in front of him, making the little boy smile.

Oliver follows her and snakes his arms around her when she turns to face him. "Because we're madly in love and you are absolutely glowing when you're pregnant and we didn't want Mia to be too bored out of her mind when Will leaves for college."

Felicity nods. "Ah, right." She smiles and wraps one hand around the back of his neck, pulling him down for a kiss.

"Will! They're kissin' again!"

.

.

.

They'd been having such a good day up to this point. The last five years, in fact. It was just another Saturday for them, though, going about their usual routine. They video-chatted with Donna right after breakfast, and Mia spent the majority of the time telling her _bubbe_ about every random thing that came to her mind. Donna also spent most of the time gushing over Lucas and how big he's getting and how she can't wait to see them all in person the next time she decides to visit.

Then they went into town so Mia could have her bi-weekly martial arts lesson that's taught by one of the residents of Bloomfield. When she realized that her dad knew how to do all sorts of kicks and flips and spins, she wanted to be just like him in that regard. And she outshines pretty much everyone in her class, even if there are only a few kids. After her lesson, they spent time visiting with various other residents they've come to know and trust over the last five years. William even spent a little bit of time with some of the friends he's made since moving in with them.

After their time in town, they returned to the cabin for dinner and their weekly movie night. Since Oliver never really caught up on the movies and things he'd missed out when he'd been away on Lian Yu so long ago, Felicity had convinced him to have a movie night every week. She did most of the picking since she's seen many movies in her lifetime. But occasionally William would throw in a suggestion for a movie that he really enjoyed watching. And Mia would help sometimes too, though she usually tried to pick the same movie over and over and they'd have to carefully steer her into picking a new one.

Things had been especially great after dinner and movie night. They'd managed to get Lucas into his crib with very minimal fussing, he really is a mama's boy and doesn't like being away from her. He hadn't fallen asleep, but they knew he would eventually if they just left him there. Mia, of course, had claimed to not be tired, so they just told her to stay in her room and play quietly until she was. William, not having an actual bedtime, had also retired to his bedroom to do whatever it is that his near-genius mind thinks of to do.

Oliver and Felicity had been settling in for a comfortable evening to themselves, Felicity equipped with her 'mom juice' as she's taken to calling it the last few years, and Oliver more than ready to dote on his wife as he does every single day and night.

But then, everything went to hell. The Monitor showed up, revealing to Oliver that it was time for his part in the upcoming Crisis to come into play. If he's being honest, Oliver pretty much forgot about the deal he made with the Monitor. He'd been so comfortable living a good, safe life with his wife while raising his beautiful, amazing children. And maybe that's where he went wrong, trying to have some semblance of a normal life.

"Can I...can I at least say goodbye to my family first?" Oliver asks the god-like being in front of him.

The Monitor is silent for a moment before giving a small, almost imperceptible nod of his head. "Do not waste time. We must begin very soon if we are to save the multiverse."

Oliver's lips pull in tight. "Yeah, I got it."

The Monitor disappears, leaving Oliver and Felicity alone in their living room. He takes a small step closer to her and presses a lingering kiss to her hairline. "I'll be right back," he whispers against her skin before pulling away.

He moves down the hallway leading to the kids' rooms, taking a moment to figure out how he wants to do this. How exactly he's going to say goodbye to his children for what could possibly be forever. He doesn't want to, but he needs to.

Making his decision, he steps toward the door to his youngest child's room. He pushes the door open and leaves the light off as he steps over to the crib. Oliver fights back the tears threatening to spill over as he peers down at his son, still lying awake on his back, completely unaware of what's going on. Just like his big sister, Lucas doesn't always like going to sleep when he's supposed to. But thankfully, he doesn't make too big of a fuss like Mia used to. Only if he doesn't get to see his mom first.

He smiles at the sight of his son, reaching down to gently rub his stomach. His smile grows a little bigger when his son smiles up at him, reflexively kicking his feet out. "Hi, Lucas," he whispers. "I love you so much. You, your big sister, your big brother, and your mom mean the whole world to me. And I'm so glad that I got the chance to be your dad even for a little while. I have to leave now to try and save a bunch of people, but whatever happens to me, I will never stop loving you." He leans down the best he can and presses a lingering kiss to his son's forehead, briefly closing his eyes.

Stepping away from the crib, his heart clenches at the sound of his son whimpering. Babies are intuitive like that, he's come to learn, being able to pick up on the emotions of people around them, even if they don't realize what that emotion is.

Forcing himself to walk out, he closes the door behind him and moves next door to his daughter's room. He gently knocks on the door, knowing she'll call him out for it if he doesn't, just like they do with her on occasion.

"Come in," she replies from the other end. It's the weekend, so she doesn't need to be actually asleep, just in her room being quiet. She always has way too much energy to be asleep yet anyway.

Opening the door, he laughs quietly at the sight of Mia sitting in the center of her bed, surrounded by a large number of her stuffed animals. She's dressed from head to toe in various dress-up pieces from different costumes, no doubt a character of her own design. "Hey, sweetie."

She turns her head to grin up at him. "Hi, daddy. I'm not tired."

"I know. As long as you play quietly."

She gives him a look that means her actions should be obvious to him, a very similar look to her mom's. "I am, daddy. We're havin' lessons." She sits up and smiles proudly. "I'm the teacher."

He moves into the room and carefully settles himself on the edge of her bed, doing his best not to disturb her toys. "Well, I'm sure you're the best teacher in the world. Come here real fast," he says, opening his arms and gesturing her closer.

Mia gladly abandons her toys and crawls across the bed to settle herself in his lap. She uses both hands to push her hair out of her face. "Hi."

"Hi." He wraps his arms loosely around her to keep her in place which in turn makes her wrap her arms around his neck, just the way he and Felicity do. "Mia, you know that I love you very much, right?"

She nods her head. "I love you too, daddy. So so much. Bigger than the whole entire sky. More than all the stars, daddy."

Oliver smiles, tears shining in his eyes. "I love you bigger than the whole entire sky, too, Mia. And I always, always will. No matter what."

"Imma gonna always love you too, daddy. You're my favorite ever in the whole world." She glances around the room in a conspiratory manner before leaning forward to him and whispering, "But don't tell mommy, okay? We don't—we don't wants her to be sad."

Oliver laughs under his breath and nods. "It'll be our secret," he says quietly. He leans forward to give her a kiss on the tip of her nose, making her scrunch her face up. "Now go to sleep."

Mia lets out a huff and drops her hands from his neck to rest on her hips. "I'm not sleepy."

"Okay, sorry. Then just keep playing until you are." He lifts her off his lap and sets her back on the bed as he stands up. He smiles at the way she goes back to playing with her dolls, not a single clue about what's happening. He wants it to stay that way for as long as possible.

Leaving the room, he pulls the door shut tightly and then makes his way to the room of his oldest child. Taking a deep breath, knowing this one is going to be especially hard, he knocks on the door and then enters after hearing an answer from the other side.

"Mia still awake?" William asks as soon as Oliver steps inside the room. He looks up from his laptop and spins around in his desk chair, giving a small smile. "I heard you go into her room and you were in there longer than just checking on her. She still not wanting to go to sleep?"

Oliver breathes in deeply as he moves into the room. "We both know she usually tires herself out pretty quickly." He sits down on the edge of William's bed, running his hands down the length of his jeans. "How are you? Any thoughts about that essay?"

William sighs heavily. "No. Which is why I'm really looking forward to you helping me with it tomorrow."

Oliver fights back his tears. "Right." He shifts on the bed, his brows furrowing together. "Uh, the last...things have been good for you, right? Living here with us for the last few years?"

William nods. "Yeah, of course. It took some adjusting, obviously, spending most of my time living in a town that's literally just former special operatives. The sense of security is nice, but it'll also be nice to be back out in the real world full-time for college. I'm excited but nervous."

Oliver smiles. "Well, I'm sure whatever schools decide to take you, it'll be their gain and everyone else's loss. And I'm glad you've enjoyed living with us again. I'm glad that you kids could all grow up together. Even though you are going away to school next year. I'm glad...I'm glad we've gotten to know each other, and that I've had the chance to actually be your dad. And that you've grown to love Felicity as a parent as well. If anything ever happened to me, I'm glad you have her to lean and rely on."

William's brows furrow tightly together and he sits forward in his seat. "Dad...why are you talking like you're saying goodbye? What's going on?"

Oliver shakes his head, swallowing thickly. "It's nothing you need to worry about, okay? You just focus on getting into an amazing school." He stands from his place and slowly walks over to William, placing a hand on his son's shoulder. "You're going to be amazing at whatever you do, I know that without a doubt." He leans down and drops a kiss to the top of William's head, breathing in deeply with his eyes closed. "I love you so much, William."

"I love you too, dad," William says, his voice cracking with unshed tears.

Giving his son's shoulder a tight, affectionate squeeze, he makes his way out of the bedroom and back into the living room where his wife is waiting for him. Her back is to him, no doubt trying to figure out why their lives have come to this point.

"This is why we can't have a normal life," she says without any prompting from him as she turns around. "This is why our children will never have normal lives. We tried, Oliver. But we failed. We got comfortable in this life that had some semblance of normalcy and we failed."

"I had to make the deal," he tells her quietly, still somewhat upset with himself for doing so in the first place. If he knew where his life was going, he's not entirely sure he would have made the deal.

"There's always going to be some danger," she reminds him as she slowly moves toward him. "Or some threat. The League of Assassins or Hive or the Ninth Circle, or the end...of the freaking universe."

He stands tall, keeping his tears at bay, needing to stay strong in this moment. "I need you to make me a promise."

Felicity nods slowly, wrapping her hands around the back of her neck and looking down. "Yeah, okay."

"No matter what happens to me, no matter what, you need to do everything in your power" - he struggles against the tears wanting to fall - "to keep William, Mia, and Lucas safe."

"I will keep them safe," she assures him, moving closer to him. "But wherever you go," she says firmly, running her hands up his chest to cup his face, "whatever happens to you, you will never leave me. On our wedding day, you told me that I was the best part of you. But the truth is, we are the best parts of each other." She gently wipes away his tears with the pads of her thumbs, his eyes closing at the gesture. "And this is so much bigger than the freaking universe."

"When I came back to Star City to start my mission, I didn't think that I was capable, or deserving, of love." His voice breaks as he chokes on his tears, finding it hard to speak properly the things he wants to say. "And then you opened up my heart in ways that I never thought were possible." He sniffles as Felicity wipes away more of his tears. "My only regret is not telling you I loved you sooner."

"Hey," she says softly with a small shake of her heard, "no regrets." She brings their faces closer together, resting her forehead against his.

"Okay," he says quietly and nods his head. He can't look her in the eyes, knowing he'll break down more if he does. "Could you tell Mia and Lucas that I love them every day?" He finally looks up into her beautiful eyes that captured him from day one. "And that I know Mia's going to grow up to continue to be as smart and beautiful as her mom. And that Lucas is going to grow into such an amazing man, especially with you as his mother. And make sure that Will knows how incredibly proud I am of him for everything he's done and will do."

"I will find you again," Felicity says with as much fierce determination as she can possibly find within her. "I promise."

"I love you."

"I love you so much," she practically whispers, her tears finally truly starting to fall at the reality of everything that's happening.

Without any hesitation whatsoever, Oliver closes the space between them, cupping her face in his hands as he slides his lips over hers. It could be their last kiss ever, or their last for a very long time, and he just wants to savor every second of it.

After a moment, he effortlessly breaks the kiss and pulls his wife in for a hug, holding as tightly to her as possible. He doesn't want to let her go, doesn't want to leave his family behind, but he has to. He has to make sure they're safe. Felicity hugs him back just as tightly, closing her eyes as the tears continue falling from her eyes.

Reluctantly, Oliver pulls out of the hug, gently sweeping Felicity's hair back as he takes one last look at her. One of Felicity's hands reaches up to cup his cheek, committing every single piece of his face to memory. Not that she could ever forget him. He knows he won't forget her either.

Unable to speak again, knowing he'll just break down again if he does, Oliver steps past his wife and moves toward the front door of the cabin. He's walking toward his fate, toward his destiny.

As soon as his hand drops from hers, Felicity sinks to the floor, one hand automatically reaching out but finding nothing close enough to grab onto. She covers her mouth with one hand, not wanting to wake up her children with her sobs of grief and pain. It's too much to take, to handle.

"Mommy?"

Felicity glances up behind her, quickly wiping away her tears, finding Mia and William slowly making their way into the living room. Mia's attached to William's back like she always is while the teenager holds a fussing Lucas in his arms.

"Hey," Felicity says, standing up and taking Mia when the little girl reaches out to her. "What are you guys doing out here?"

"Dad seemed...off," William explains, continuing to gently bounce Lucas in hopes that he'll calm down. "I heard him talking to Lucas in his room and then Mia, and then he came to talk to me. He sounded like he was saying goodbye. And Lucas was fussing pretty bad too. What's going on?"

Felicity breathes in deeply, squaring her shoulders. "Your dad...left."

William's eyes go wide. "What? He what? Why would he do that? Why would he do that again?"

"Where did daddy go?" Mia asks, resting her head on Felicity's shoulder.

"Daddy went to go save the world."

"Is he gonna do it?" Mia asks curiously. "Is daddy gonna save it?"

Felicity swallows down the lump in her throat and rubs at Mia's back. "Yeah, baby girl. He will. Because your daddy is one of the best and bravest people I have ever known. And he will always do whatever he can to keep people safe. To keep you and your brothers safe. Because that's what heroes do, and that's who your daddy is."

"Is...is daddy...when's he gonna be back?" Mia asks, absentmindedly playing with the collar of Felicity's shirt.

Felicity lets out a heavy sigh. "I don't know, baby. But hopefully soon. In the meantime, it's just going to be the four of us." She reaches out for William, wrapping an arm around his shoulders to pull him closer. She glances between all of her children as she speaks, "And we're going to look after each other and keep each other safe until dad gets home. We're going to be okay. As long as we have each other, we'll be okay."

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**So? What did you think? Let me know in a review down below. I'd love to hear your thoughts.**

**Until next time,  
Jellybean96 out!**


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